January 31, 2007

Sarah Silverman's new program: Shocking or boring? Discuss.

It’s never a good sign when a character in a comedy has to tell you the line he just said is funny.

In “The Sarah Silverman Program” (9:30 p.m. Thursday, Comedy Central), the lead character, Sarah Silverman, runs out to get some batteries but is stopped by a cop who’s keeping pedestrians from interrupting a marathon of people in wheelchairs.

Silverman finds this frustrating, but the cop says, “The only difference between this marathon and a river of molten lava is that everyone who touches it gets inspired instead of burned to death.”

He and his partner laugh and tell her the remark is funny, but Silverman doesn’t get the joke. I can identify with that.

Silverman’s half-hour show, which follows the slacker life of a fictional character who happens to share her name, is one of those shows you feel you’re supposed to like. Silverman, after all, is an out-there comic who’s got an edgy, “I can’t believe she just said that” reputation.

But I can’t help but think that her new Comedy Central show is not the right venue for her weird wit. Silverman, who has had supporting roles in everything from “School of Rock” to “The Aristocrats,” does have a real talent for looking at situations from a deeply skewed, oddball perspective (told by a charity’s TV commercial that the only way to get a suffering child off her screen is through money, Silverman covers the set in dollar bills).

But “The Sarah Silverman Program” is full of scenes that sound funny on paper - Sarah sleeps with God, then won’t give him her cell number - but in execution pass by without eliciting even a small chuckle.

Fans of Silverman’s humor may find it funny for her character to call something gay, then turn to her gay friends and say, “I don’t mean gay like homosexual or something, I mean gay like retarded.” I find that sort of remark the equivalent of someone jabbing you in the ribs and saying, “Hey, I just said something rude, what do you think of that? Pretty offensive, huh?”

Rude, yeah. Offensive, maybe. But it’s tiresome more than anything else. Silverman’s “shocking” humor on this show isn’t really in service of anything. By this point in her career, it’s almost predictable.

There are plenty of comedies starring selfish, thoughtless or idiotic people (see both versions of “The Office,” “Extras,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Seinfeld,” to name a few), but on those shows, the cleverness of the jokes far outweighs the rudeness of the characters’ deeds or words. “The Office’s” Michael Scott is an idiot when it comes to race and sexual orientation, but we laugh at him because his brand of stupidity is not only unique and funny, it gives us a glimpse into the twisted workings of his tiny mind.

The fictional Silverman on display here, however, is just a garden-variety slacker, albeit one who breaks into song every so often, and one who has unstinting support from her two gay neighbors (played by Brian Posehn and Steve Agee) and her sister (who’s played by Laura Silverman, the star’s real-life sibling).

It’s no surprise that Silverman has succeeded in the largely male world of comedy - she’s a female comic who doesn’t talk about “chick” stuff. And she’s willing to say just about anything - about any body part or any ethnic group - then she dares you to be offended.

That shock-them-into-submission approach might work for a comedy film or album, but for an ongoing series, there has to be more going on. There has to be more than watching the cheerfully selfish antics (and occasional musical interludes) of a woman who is (according to the convenience-store clerk played by “Heroes” star Masi Oka in the pilot), “kind of Jewy but totally hot. Not out-of-your-league hot, but cute.”

Comments

I think one reason Sarah is getting so "blah" recently is she is a one-trick pony. Sarah says something shocking, she pauses, she tells you what she said is shocking, and then tries to pile on that shocking comment. After the first few jokes, you are ready for something new.

You referenced "Curb Your Enthusiasm." What makes Larry so great is he genuinely is an idiot (on the show) and he is acting naturally. On "The Office," Michael is a nice guy who is trying to do the right thing, but just doesn't have the ability to do anything without it being awkward.

Silverman really has no likability. About two years ago, I thought she was great, but things have gone downward since then.

I think Silverman is very talented and incredibly clever, but most of the time I just don't think she's that funny. Most of the raves I've seen/heard about her work escape me.

When I saw "Jesus is Magic" I could sort of see what she was aiming for...but the jokes kinda imploded along the way. I'm not especially amused by a grown woman saying "doody", either.

I kind feel the same way about Margaret Cho - especially in later performances where there's significant political advocacy in them....again, a very smart, very clever woman who says very witty/insightful/clever things, but isn't very ha-ha funny.

You're so predictable. The best comedy is not meant to be comfortably funny, but uncomfortably funny. (Ever here the phrase, "Comedy isn't pretty?") It's supposed to make you think and react. Silverman is in the tradition of Lenny Bruce and Kid Rock. She says things you don't expect to hear and affronts you. That's the point. Now, anybody who actually likes "Grey's Anatomy": that's funny.

I'm surprised that after watching as much television as you apparently do that you can find anything offensive- or maybe I mean noticeably more offensive than everything else on television.
By the way, I am currently working on a series pilot about a homicide forensics scientist who spends his off-time impersonating a conservative television pundit with a lot of sexual double-entendres thrown in for good measure. Oh, and there's a snotty blonde teenager with self-image issues and loose morals in it too. Do you think it will sell?

I laughed at every single joke you mentioned in your column about "The Sarah Silverman Project," so it must be pretty hysterical. I usually hate female comedians, but think she is brilliantly funny. Maybe you just weren't in the mood for her Mo?

Sarah Silverman -- like Janeane Garofalo and Bob Odenkirk and David Cross -- suffers from "Mr. Show syndrome" (MSS).

As a big fan of Mr. Show, I have been dismayed by the number of its veterans who have fallen victim to MSS.

The principle cause of MSS, as repeatedly exhibited by Sarah Silverman, is being one's own biggest fan. As the biggest fan of Sarah Silverman, Sarah Silverman thinks that anything Sarah Silverman thinks is funny must be freaking genius and deserving of broadest release to the public who will, of course, immediately recognize the genius of Sarah Silverman.

As a result of this self-fandom, the primary symptom of MSS is the perpetual courting of corporate Hollywood while simultaneously asserting a distaste and loathing for all things Hollywood.

MSS often manifests itself in the fatal mis-scaling of projects. Again and again, MSS sufferers, in their hopeless struggle to beat Hollywood at its own game and make it big, overreach their grasp and try to make a project "bigger" than its natural size. For example, the "Run Ronnie Run" movie by the Mr. Show crew.

Ronnie Dobbs was a hilarious bit on the Mr. Show program. But Bob and David decided that the proper place for Ronnie was the big screen. Keep in mind, this was a single character on a program that was a moderate success on HBO and they decided that it should be a movie. And it was made into a movie. But, due to the realities of playing the Hollywood game, it was an utter failure.

Creative control was wrested from Bob and David, the movie had a limited release -- it may have been direct to video -- and, worst of all, it was no where nearly as funny as the original pieces from Mr. Show.

Similarly, “The Sarah Silverman Program” -- do you see any signs of Sara Silverman fandom hidden in that name? -- suffers from scale. While the slacker Sarah character might be great as a bit in a sketch program like Mr. Show or as one of many reoccurring characters in a program, building an entire series around her is an indication of MSS.

And the worst thing about MSS is that we are all its victims. When these genuinely funny Mr. Show vets try to make a sketch a series or a bit into a movie, it inevitably fails -- the pilot isn't picked up, the series is dumbed down and compromised, the movie isn't released -- and the fans suffer.

But rest assured, if “The Sarah Silverman Program” fails on Comedy Central, her next project will be pitched to the networks.

Although Sarah Silverman has made me laugh before, she has also made me cringe by misunderstanding the overlap between what is funny and what is offensive:

There are things that are funny and things that are offensive.

Just because something is offensive doesn't mean it's funny.

I think comedians like Silverman are responding to people's self-censoring in the name of political correctness (which is a perfect thing to make fun of). However, they overreach sometimes and it becomes seriously unfunny.

When I heard about "The Aristocrats", almost everyone who mentioned it was jumping for joy about Sara Silverman's bit. When I SAW "The Aristocrats", I'd never seen Silverman before, and I actually had to wait for the credits to figure out which one she was, because I certainly wouldn't have guessed that she was "the funny one" based on the bit. All I could think of was Beavis and Butthead sitting in front of their TV..."huhuhuhuhuhuhuh she said 'rape'." I mean, c'mon. That wasn't even funny in the 90's. And not because "it's offensive"--offensive stuff can be the funniest stuff out there!--but because it's so self-referentially, pompously, look-at-me offensive. "Hey Mommy! I said a bad word! Wanna hear me say it again? Mommy! Mommy? I said a bad word...did you hear me?" Bo-ring.

What, besides gender, is the difference between Sarah Silverman and Andrew Dice Clay?

Something else to ponder: I couldn't remember the Diceman's name, so I googled "foul-mouthed comic." Got a shocking number of Lenny Bruces -- get over it, people, he used a lot more language than just the dirty words -- but sure enough, there were Sarah Silverman and ADC.

Not boring at all! I watched Sarah Silverman's show last night and thought it was was phenomenal. OK, there were a lot of ka-ka jokes. But the humor was fresh, new, twisted. The writing was really fabulous.

I've seen her in other programs and dont find her brand of comedy to be particularly inventive (there are other abrasive or offensive female comics out there!) or entertaining. I did try to watch the first episode of the new show, and 20 mins in, switched the channel. Its quite lame and unoriginal, and surely wont last. Its one thing to say things for a reaction within the scope of some plot, and another thing to simply spew stupid jokes for the sake of joke telling. Silverman sucks.

I just read the beginning of your article. Then I stopped. In the scene you're describing, the police are chuckling at the futility of Sarah's stated goal to find another way around the wheelchair marathon. That's what they're saying is funny. They're mocking her for thinking she'll be able to get around. They're not explaining that the "molten lava" joke is funny. How stupid do you have to be to interpret it that way, and how did you get a job telling anyone what's funny, and why does that job even exist? Laughter is an involuntary spasm, it happens or it doesn't. Why are we reading a report of what did or didn't provoke an involuntary reaction in you? By the way, I wrote the molten lava line. And, believe me, in the eyes and ears of people with better taste than you- namely me- it's a funny line. And it wasn't for you. It was for me. Why are the lines I write for myself on television? Because nothing you write makes the cut, so somebody's got to do it. Look at the title of your column. The Watcher? If you're a watcher, why are you talking so much, and if you're a creator, why are you watching and complaining? You're a parasite. Have you looked at the photo of yourself next to your column's heading? You look like an idiot. When you go to sleep tonight, I want you to have a dream about shame. When you wake up, start taking action.

I think the show is great! I like radom acts on a television show. You may expect her to say something offensive, but you don't know exactly what she'll say. I think the writing is awesome and the cast is great. If I were you, I would find another job, because telling people if they should laugh or not is a crime against nature. Laughter is like breathing. When you're underwater you know you can't breathe but you have to. Sarah Silverman's show is kinda like that. You know its wrong to laugh, but you have to. Why? Because its funny and you know it.

So just how DID this no-talent get her own show. She was appalling on the VMA awards, I found her less talented than Brittany . Tasteless, humorless, and embarrassing. The VMAs are becoming the thing to watch for the screw ups.

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